Monthly Archives: August 2011

I’m currently sitting in Starbucks on Sunday evening charging all my electronics. My laptop, ipad and phone. Lucky that the kindle has power for 30 days otherwise I’d be charging that as well!

I sit here looking out of the window at perfectly clear skies, hardly a drop of wind in the air and what you would call a perfect day!

However, for those who have just experienced the last 24 hours on the east coast this is a very surreal sight!

The presence this weekend of Hurricane Irene, while not the meanest Hurricane one will ever experience, but one of the biggest, has left us without power for the last 18 hours. Trees down, restaurants closed and church services cancelled.

We made the decision to cancel our Sunday service at Generation Church. We got the word out early Saturday morning and I must admit as the night drew in it seemed that Irene was getting less intense and nothing was happening in our neck of the woods. I wondered if cancelling service would end up being a foolish decision! However, a good 24 hours later I don’t know of a church that did have service!

Irene started showing her teeth around 9pm. By 11pm we had significant wind gusts. I stepped outside to feel it and while it wasn’t the strongest wind I have ever felt, it was intense. Normally in a storm the power is felt from a few minutes to a few hours. This was very different. The intensity kept on coming, instead of dying down it just got worse. I went to bed around 1am hearing the constant sound of wind and rain beating against our windows. Normally a sound sleeper I found myself waking up on a constant basis from the noise of the storm.

Waking up this morning to find no power was not surprise. Waking up to see trees were still bent over from the constant wind was.

We felt only a small part of Irene. I couldn’t imagine what it would have felt like if we had been nearer the eye! The size of her was just insane!

So Irene came, interrupted everyone’s weekend and has now left! The aftermath is a lot of downed power lines, a few insurance claims but in all reality, by this time next week people will no longer be talking about her and life will have gone on as usual! It was nice meeting you Irene, but please tell your brothers and sisters not to come up this way for a long time!

There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.

Living in the North East this past week has been interesting. One strange weather event after the other has left people a little perplexed!

North Easterners can live with 90% humidity, they expect the odd freak snow storm and are no strangers to some intense lightning. Yet earthquakes, hurricanes and damaging hail do not belong there! So when all three happen in a week people start to panic.

Seeing the fear and panic can almost make you smile! The reason for this is that one day the weather is going to get a whole lot worse! The Bible tells us that there will be a day when the earth will shake so bad that people will cry for the rocks to fall on them and kill them. Then the winds will blow and the hail will fall so bad that people will hide in caves and curse God.

Imagine the terror from a storm that produces hail weighing 75 pounds? If people are frightened now I wouldn’t want to think of the magnitude of their fear on that terrible day.

However, for the believer of Jesus Christ there is no need to fear! For the Lord is with us every step of the way. His protection is so vast that no hurricane, no earthquake and no amount of hail is too big or too powerful for His right hand of protection.

During the end days men’s hearts will fail them because of fear, but the believers heart will succeed because there is a love and a peace deep down within which man will never be able to understand. ‘

These times are light shinning times, times to show the world the power of the unwaivering peace of God!

Work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. 2 Peter 1:10

It is by grace that we are saved, not about the works we have done, but salvation is a gift of God. That is the fundamental truth about Christianity. No one can work their way to God, no one can buy their way to God and no one deserves to be right with God. However, the wonderful truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it is a free gift to us all.

While this is the best news the world has ever heard, this news was not meant to be left on its own. The book of James very clearly states that faith without works is dead. 1 Corinthians states that faith and all the spiritual gifts of God without the expression of love for others is just a noisy clanging cymbal.

The life of a believer isn’t about just sitting back and waiting for heaven. Life as a believer is more than this. It is about working hard. It is about tackling your issues head on. It is about making a decision to be transformed by the power of God. It is about sacrificing your own desires for the desires of the Lord. It is about choosing to abstain in favor of stopping others from stumbling. It is about getting up and doing when all within you wants to sit and stop. It is about desiring the most useful gifts. It is about helping others who can’t help themselves. It is about working hard to make a difference in the time you have left on this earth.

The life of a believer isn’t easy, but then again who said being called and chosen of God was a walk in the park. It’s not, but the result is an eternity of glory in heaven with your creator. Get up, get moving and get back to work!